POMO

My Bloody Valentine is a TV production drowning in bloody brutality and using 3D effects surprisingly scarcely and unoriginally. Due to the screenwriter’s laziness (the only thing he’s able to do is conceal the killer’s identity), it’s probably the most retarded slasher flick in a long while. The only thing suggesting we’re no longer in the 1980s but in the world of contemporary cinema is the more modern pumps on the feet of one naked blonde, who gets murdered early on.

Despite being rather political and incredibly slow, this film is perfectly polished and, above all, very important.

Defiance is a pretty and good movie, but it could have been beautiful and excellent. Subject matter such as this is simply not served well by the simplified American view neatly dividing everyone into good and bad, and always supplying a dramatic last-minute rescue. The thing that I liked in Edward Zwick’s “fairytale-like” The Last Samurai cannot work in a drama about persecuted Jews. This is yet another vain attempt on the director’s part to ingratiate himself with the Academy. The actors and James Newton Howard are excellent, even though the latter steals from his own score for The Village.

The Counterfeiters is an interestingly conceived drama without unambiguously pure heroes, set against the background of accordion music, the likes of which we rarely get to hear in films set in concentration camps. The quality filmmaking and well-directed actors are a good fit for the attractive subject matter, which alone makes this film a must-see.

This film is easier to rate in comparison with the similar Swedish movie Evil. Both films rouse strong emotions and are equally assured in what they want to leave us with, but while Evil boasts attractive filmmaking craft, The Class is very limited in this respect. It’s filmed without any enthusiasm, as though using a hidden camera. The plot makes sense and shows some escalation, but both the screenwriting and visuals are utterly mechanical and unattractive. If not for the topical and urgent subject matter, the film probably wouldn’t have made it out of Estonia.

The 1980s didn’t give us only naively oversimplified action flicks of the Rambo kind, but also naively oversimplified “realistic” thrillers with Jack Nicholson, at least when we’re talking about the ending. Moreover, can you believe Jack when he plays such a humanistic, good character? But Harvey Keitel and the atmosphere of the scorching frontier prairie are excellent.

After the second viewing on the big screen, I’m giving this the full rating and putting the DVD on the shelf with my favorites. Himalaya is more than just pretty pictures and beautiful music, more than visual and musical meditation. It’s also a spiritual film about pride, persistence, family and learning (the cute final shot). Its expression is humble, modest and quiet, in the language of its protagonists. Himalaya is a film from regions where wisdom does not come with diplomas, but with age. “Always choose the hard way.”

An extremely strong shot of espresso brewed by Cronenberg, without a grain of sugar or a drop of cream. The level of filmmaking reaches surgical precision. But the meaning of the film remains impenetrable upon first viewing. I need to come back to this later.

Even though I didn’t find Smoke overly interesting, its sequel, which lacks any kind of consistent plot, was surprisingly more entertaining. It works not only as a postcard-like portrayal of Brooklyn as a city within city, but also as a collage of witty and likable conversations that sound like a mix between Smoke and Jarmusch’s Coffee and Cigarettes. The curious joys and worries of the comical characters are spiced up with dry humor... It is a pleasure for those who like to listen. The most amusing thing for me was Lou Reed’s depiction of Sweden.

No matter what you expect from it, you will get something different from this unusual documentary about an unusual man. Werner Herzog doesn’t adore animals or glorify Treadwell, who put himself in the position of their protector. He wasn’t one. When the park visitors threw stones at his “beloved” bears, he cowardly watched from behind some bushes. Treadwell was just a nutjob who lost his sense of self- preservation and contact with reality, deluding himself that he understood the wilderness better than the human world. Herzog chose him as material for a psychological study, in which he confronts Treadwell’s personality with his own opinions and those of other people. Grizzly Man is a thoughtful documentary that will stay in your memory for a long time thanks to its uniqueness.